Backtrack
by GDeacur
Summary: Sometimes you want to retrace your steps to the past. Other times it just reaches forward to drag you.


**Backtrack**

_It's good to be back… for an hour or so._

The Phendrana rifts were doubtless a beautiful, peaceful place. The same was at best partially true of the galaxy; peace was fleeting, and that meant Samus Aran was busy. But here she was, back on Tallon IV for a brief sojourn. Pirate activity had lulled, giving Samus a chance to finish some odds and ends. Her onboard maps had recorded what a quick orbital scan now confirmed; she passed over an energy source of the usual "unknown origin". And so she was compelled to set down on an icy plateau and investigate. She traveled the shorter of two routes to what was hopefully a valuable remnant of the Chozo society that once thrived on this planet. Grunting as she jumped and grappled from rocky ledge to ledge, she paused to survey the path ahead.

_This had better be worth it. I'd have taken the easy route if I had all day for a vacation._

And so the bounty hunter continued along the length of the vast incline, jumping and running as she'd done the previous time. According to her suit's maps, this would lead to another series of ledge hops over the frozen river, then an ice tunnel, then a clearing between rocky heights, then an underground enclave of sorts with the energy signature somewhere within.

_Just as I remember._

Except she wasn't fighting for her life. And, oddly, where were all the creatures? These ledges had been crawling with ice beetles; the river below with baby sheegoth.

She found the answer at hand soon enough. Even smaller animals here bred, at best, once every few months. Running back and forth through the rifts on her last mission, she'd decimated the local fauna. It would likely be a year or two before the local shriekbats recovered. Larger predators would require even longer.

None of this bothered her. She would kill every animal in sight if it meant the preservation of sentient life. On her missions, her time sensitive missions, it often amounted to that. Of course, Samus wasn't bloodthirsty. She was fascinated by all things living. Being mentally and emotionally capable of such fascination, she decided she would choose herself and her kin over _any_ creature of base instinct… or ten… or a thousand.

Samus halted in her path as a glint from the midday sun caught her eye. A quick magnification revealed it to be nothing more than a scrap of metal from the blown open door of the ice tunnel.

_Pirate security, locking down everything near their station. For all the good it did them. Geothermals, phazon, metroids… exploiting everything they can and can't control to fuel their lawless deeds. Why they persist…_ was a thought for another time, she decided. They showed no sign of stopping today but to lick their wounds for the battle tomorrow.

Samus advanced towards the sundered door, ready to use her thermal imaging. _Through the tunnel, to the clearing, to the enclave, to the prize. Ten minutes, tops._ She stepped through.

Memory served her correctly - it was pitch black for all eyes but the heat sensitive. Arm cannon levelled, she pressed on. It was unlikely any pirates were left over, unless they'd suddenly decided to do everyone else a favor and freeze themselves to death. Still, a few creatures could be roaming, and the passage was tall but narrow.

She proceeded without incident, reaching the final stretch of the tunnel where it widened out a bit into the opening ahead. The snow outside sparkled in the sunlight, reflective enough to prompt Samus to return to normal vision.

One foot raised, she froze.

She scanned what she saw at the cave's exit.

Flickerbats. A flickerbat nest with four young. On the ground just below, a young ice beetle.

A young ice beetle being _fed_ by a flickerbat, its barely visible benefactor regurgitating into its throat.

It was known to happen in the animal kingdom on very rare occasions. One animal adopts another of a different species for no apparent reason. The instinct to raise offspring outdid that of inter-species competition, evidently. And what helpless creature would refuse such care?

Samus dropped her arm. Then she bent down on one knee, chuckling into her suit. Her eyes shut, she thought, _never in all my days have I seen this… and I doubt I'll ever see it again._

So why did it seem so, _so_ familiar? In the darkness behind closed eyes, where the ghosts of her past roamed free in all their violence and loneliness and benevolence, she knew.

_It's tight up there. If I run by, the bats will attack with parental abandon. And maybe they'll… and I'll have to…_.

Samus stood up, turned around and went back through the cave.

On that quiet, peaceful day in the Phendrana rifts, Samus took the scenic route.


End file.
